How to Install a Package from Debian experimental

To install a more current version of a package on Debian, consider installing the package from Debian experimental. Here’s how it works!

First add the following to /etc/apt/sources.list :

deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian experimental main

Next, run:

$ sudo apt-get update

Now it is possible to manually install a package from experimental. Note that packages will _not_ automatically update to experimental; one must install a package explicitly.

As an example, here is how to install wireshark from experimental:

$ sudo apt-get -t experimental install wireshark

To upgrade a package from experimental, run the same command:

$ sudo apt-get -t experimental install wireshark

Note that using a mixed system is considered somewhat at your own risk. I would not recommend mixing experiemental and stable, but you can perhaps attempt testing and experimental. Debian stable is called stable for a reason, and experimental is, well, just that. 🙂